Iktisatbank now Charging for accounts.

[Butterflyaway]

What a joke this Bank is.

In Septembers Newsletter (emailed to us today 8th October) they announced the following charges:

4 or more TL accounts will be 51.50TL per quarter. 4 or more currency accounts will be 10.30. Don't ask if that's Sterling, Euros etc, as they don't say.

Looking at the accounts on the Internet, they have already taken their charges on October 1st. Bloody cheek. Take the money first, then tell you on October 8th, in Septembers Newsletter.

Their Smartcard Credit Card is a total joke. Retailers pretend their machines don't work. Travel agents will not accept their points as they wait months for their money. New cards take 3-4 months to be supplied. Amex has that ad on TV where there's a couple lying on a beach, then a rep with their replacement card arrives, within 24 hours.

Actually this Bank is not a joke, it's a disgrace.

No English speaking member of staff has been there any length of time.

Every few months I have to update their details as there's always someone new.

Within 3 months, we will have gone elsewhere.

Rant over. Cheers!

[LooseBoots]

Quite agree with you.

They must realise they are going to loose business. They say other banks charge as well but I am sure HSBC and Credit West don`t.

[Ozangirl]

Was just reading my email from Iktisat about that ! can't believe also that for the few years that I have been using this bank they have always waived the fee when transferring money from the UK, then low and behold a couple of months ago I transferred money in the usual way and automatically got charged quite a large sum! their response was a new system has been put in place and they can no longer waive the fee. Would have been nice to have been told since we already got charged from the UK ! Now we have fee scales for holding accounts with them. I personally think their service has gone really down hill, some of the ladies that I regularly used as good contacts and knew their job have left. Time to move on me thinks.

[Mollie the cat]

Me too, will be pulling my money out.

[Philoz]

Mollie-be careful, you will destabilise the economy!
PS-Do you want me to hire a skip and a fork lift to collect the cash?

[Mollie the cat]

Phil oz, wish I was a penny behind you,

[LooseBoots]

Do these companies/banks think we don`t check out the competition.

Their statement that other banks make this charge is nonsense, at least the ones that we have dealt with.

I think they will lose lots of custom.

[Smiler]

I posted a topic about this but no reply as yet. So, can anyone tell me what the other banks do actually charge/not charge. I'm looking to move my money but the question is, to where?

[bargainboozeandwines]

Ive been charged 10 tl just to put some sterling in some one else's account. They catching up to the uk banks with charges now !

[aerhere]

A nice quick earner for Iktisatbank, introducing a charge and then telling us after the event. They would never have got away with it in the UK where charges have to be advertised and notified to customers BEFORE they start being charged so you have an informed choice. OK, I know this isn't the UK but Iktisatbank do seem to have over stepped the mark with this one. Perhaps they knew that if the advised their customers before the 1 October charges hit the accounts, many customers would have simply closed and gone elsewhere and they would not have raised so much money on the first and unexpected sweep of charges. I think their staff are going to be kept very busy with account closures and transfers over the coming weeks. But beware - Iktisatbank charged me for transferring money to another bank in the TRNC and told me it was a computer generated, non optional fee, where as Creditwest & Near East don't and told me that it's is against the banking rules here to do so! Iktisatbank will be on a nice little earner when money is transferred elsewhere. However, if you withdrawal in cash, whatever the amount, there is no charge, so I hope they have a big safe to store everybody's notes in.

[Philoz]

Does this just apply to current accounts (i.e non interest bearing accounts) or to time deposit accounts also?
If these charges apply also to time deposit accounts, the bank is effectively reducing the interest rate you agreed with them when you opened the account and therefore must be in breach of contract.

[bargainboozeandwines]

Is a contract binding here !

[Art]

Quarterly charges will only apply to Current Accounts-not savings accounts.

[JoandJelly]

Quite agree with you.

They must realise they are going to loose business. They say other banks charge as well but I am sure HSBC and Credit West don`t.

HSBC charge 8TL a month on TL accounts unless you are a Premier customer. I have just closed my accounts there because they charge per person on a joint sterling account which works out at £5 a month!

[LooseBoots]

Quite agree with you.

They must realise they are going to loose business. They say other banks charge as well but I am sure HSBC and Credit West don`t.

HSBC charge 8TL a month on TL accounts unless you are a Premier customer. I have just closed my accounts there because they charge per person on a joint sterling account which works out at £5 a month!

Didn`t realise HSBC didi that. Have not seen a charge on Credit west.

[ozankoys]

The main Garanti branch charge you for depositing a cheque drawn on the branch in the town & also depositing cash to a Garanti account at a different branch.
This means that if someone gives you a Garanti cheque your only option to avoid charges is to go to the branch it is drawn on & cash it.

[sophie]

Most of them clobber us every which way it seems to me. I'm not being racist here (or at least trying not to be) but do locals have to suffer all these charges as well or do they have a way around them?

[raffs]

For anyone thinking about shopping around or enquiring about bank charges east of Girne, good start might be Creditwest Bank near Lemar Çatalköy. Their English speaking member of the bank is Oksana Akıner Tel:0392-824 56 20

[LooseBoots]

Don`t shoot the messenger but I have been asked to encourage account holders who have suffered this new account charge to write to their branch, be it pen to paper or e.mail, venting their feelings and letting the bank know what they think.
It was also requested that a copy should be addressed to the Multicultural Banking Centre ( address on their website I think).

The person who relayed this information is a member of staff who will NOT be named but who is just as upset as his/her customers.

So save your rants on the forums and send them to Iktisatbank.

The pen is mightier than the sword, someone once said.

[v_vudali]

Near east bank also charge 50tl a quarter on current accounts which they did not tell us before an account was opened last week. That was for a local TC so it looks like everyone's getting the same treatment. Thats 200TL a year!! Like the bank don't earn enough from their interest on loans!

[come_on_aylin]

Spotted in the Cyprus Today that the Iktisatbank new charges do not apply to VIP customers, i.e. those with 100,000TL or more invested with the bank. I spoke to Natalie today and she confirmed this and said that VIP customers should contact the bank, if a charge has been taken, to arrange a refund.